Police Commissioner Andrew Coster has been appointed as the head of the Government’s Social Investment Agency and will step down from NZ Police by November. 

The Public Service Commission (PSC) announced Coster’s appointment as Secretary of Social Investment this morning. 

Coster will start his five-year term on November 11, meaning he will step down as Police Commissioner early – his term was set to end in April next year. 

In July, Coster confirmed he did not intend to seek a second term in the role. 

The process to select a new Police Commissioner is expected to be announced soon. 

It will mean a change to a smaller agency for Coster after leading NZ Police since April 2020. However, the new position is also considered influential because of its importance to the Government and to Social Investment Minister Nicola Willis. 

Willis said she would have more to say soon but described Coster as “an exceptional individual”. 

Police Minister Mark Mitchell congratulated Coster on social media and thanked him for his work with police. 

“He has served with integrity, and with his background and experience I know he will do an outstanding job leading the Social Investment Agency.” 

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon threw his support behind Coster this morning, saying he had done an “exceptionally good job” as Police Commissioner and was “uniquely qualified” to lead the Social Investment Agency. 

PM Christopher Luxon said he valued Police Commissioner Andrew Coster's work to target the Comanchero gang. Photo / Mark Mitchell 

Asked about Coster’s record as Police Commissioner, Luxon pointed to the recent charges filed by police against almost all Comanchero gang members, Coster’s approach to policing gang tangi and the targeting of boy racers. 

“[Coster] is someone that we really value and really respect ... he’s done a really good job.” 

In 2021, then-National justice spokesman Simon Bridges criticised Coster as a “wokester” in relation to his approach to gang and gun violence occurring at the time. The current Police Minister Mark Mitchell had also been critical of Coster while in Opposition. 

Today, Luxon defended Coster and said he disagreed with Bridges’ assessment: “I don’t care, I’m the leader of the National Party.” 

Luxon believed Coster would be an “outstanding” leader of the Social Investment Agency, noting Coster’s work with both police and justice as well as his involvement with the Government’s public sector targets. 

“He is uniquely placed to take on this work, working with Nicola Willis around how we get the Social Investment Agency working.” 

Acting Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott said Coster was a proven leader with a “pragmatic, realistic and delivery-focused approach to achieving change”. 

“He is a highly respected and impressive public service leader who has considerable experience delivering initiatives to address complex social issues.” 

Coster has experience coordinating with a range of government agencies, especially during Covid-19, and has focused on the importance of early intervention measures when it came to crime. 

Willis has set the Social Investment Agency up as a core agency and is appointing a new social investment board to advise the Government. The agency will have $12 million a year in a fund to buy services from community groups, iwi and NGOs from 2025. 

The Social Investment Agency is charged with working across government departments and using data and evidence to try to intervene early in to break cycles of dependence, inter-generational poverty and disadvantage. It is also charged with ensuring that the $70 billion of government spending on social services is getting the desired results and ensuring a focus on the government’s public service targets. 

Coster was appointed as Police Commissioner under former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in 2020 and went through a series of police ministers under the previous Labour government – including Poto Williams, Chris Hipkins, Stuart Nash and Ginny Andersen. 

However, Coster came in for criticism from the then National Opposition which was pushing Labour hard on law and order. Police Minister Mark Mitchell was an open critic of the policing by consent approach Coster championed and once likened it to having “cups of tea with gang members”. 

Police Minister Mark Mitchell and Police Commissioner Andrew Coster announce measures to police gangs. Photo / Ben Dickens 

Ahead of the election, Mitchell had said it was clear they had different views on it. “It has resulted in confused messaging to the public and frontline police and created a permissive environment for gangs, violence and retail crime to rapidly grow.” 

After the change of government, Mitchell delayed before he would publicly express confidence in Coster. 

He eventually did so after releasing a letter of expectations for the Police Commissioner. 

That letter set out the new government’s policies, Mitchell’s expectation that police use the powers they were given, targeted youth crime and focused on “core policing”. 

It also included an expectation around Coster’s leadership to overcome challenges with law and order and address Mitchell’s concern about a decline in public confidence. 

“Our New Zealand Police organisation and frontline staff are working in a far more complex, demanding and dangerous environment that requires focused, strong and supportive leadership. My expectation is for that leadership to be evident.” 

Coster and Mitchell have since fronted together regularly, announcing measures such as new gang units and a boost in the numbers of police on the beat. Coster’s tenure as Police Commissioner has included Covid-19, when police were expected to maintain lockdown rules, the Parliamentary protests in 2022. Coster has said the operation on the final day of that protest was one of the days he was proudest of the police. 

He recently fronted on the police operations into the Comancheros gang. 

Claire Trevett is the NZ Herald’s political editor. She started her journalism career at the Northern Advocate in 2001 and has been at the NZ Herald since 2003. She joined the Press Gallery team at Parliament in 2007 and is a life member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery.